Ridiculously amazing chocolate licorice mudcake

Did someone just utter the three magic words of dessert awesome-landia? Chocolate? Check. Licorice? Check. Mudcake? Check. The minute I saw this recipe in Syötävän hyvä I knew it would be one of the first things I'd bake when I got into a decent kitchen again.

So, when my mom's partner's daughters and their kids were coming over for a short visit before heading up north, I didn't hesitate to pull out this recipe. And let me tell you: I wasn't let down. Rarely have I ever eaten anything so amazingly wonderfully rich and delicious. And I've sampled a lot of awesome things. This one: easily in the top 5 of amazement. Served with fresh strawberries and coconut cream, I just couldn't help going back to the fridge for more.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret word me and my ex coined, back in the day. In Finnish, it's "salasyöntilusikka". It doesn't translate directly, but it could be something like "secret snack spoon". Basically, it's a spoon stored in the fridge on the cake plate and used to dig away at the cake little by little until everything is gone (and no one is the wiser, since nothing has actually been served). Genious! This cake was definitely "salasyöntilusikka" worthy. And it also worked perfectly as a crumbled topping to the next delicacy I made, namely strawberry rhubarb ice cream. Which will be shared with you in the next post.

I baked the cake for 20 minutes and it didn't turn out quite as gooey and muddy as I would have liked. It wasn't dry by any means, not even on the edges, but I still prefer my mudcake even more gooey and saggy in the middle. So next time, this beauty will spend a little less time in the oven. Also a word of advice: not all licorice powders are created equal. Some are more bitter and licoricy than others. I used Urtekrams Licorice powder, and 3,5 tbsp gave just the right amount of licorice flavour. The original recipe had used only 3. So, if you like your cake to pack a more licorice-y punch, add more powder.

And seriously. This cake! Make it. And make it now. You won't regret it!

Awesome chocolate licorice mudcake

20 cm cake tin

200 g dark chocolate (the darker the better; I used 86% sweetened with normal sugar as the shop didn't carry anything "healhtier" (stevia/xylitol sweetened)

100 g butter

4 eggs

2 dl coconut sugar

1 tbsp potato flour or corn starch

3,5 tbsp licorice (root) powder

ca. 1/2 tsp salt

For the cake tin:

oil/butter

almond meal

Line the bottom of a spring form pan with parchment paper or use a normal cake tin (also lined with paper, so that you'll get the cake out of the tin). Butter the tin and sprinkle the sides and bottom with almond meal. You can skip this step if using a normal pan and lining it completely with parchment paper.

Melt chocolate and butter together on low heat and set aside to cool.

Separate egg whites from egg yolks. Whip the whites until a firm foam forms. Whip egg yolks and coconut sugar to a foam in a separate bowl.

Mix potato flour, licorice powder and salt and sift into yolk foam. Add chocolate-butter mix and mix to combine. Fold egg white foam last into the batter. The batter might look a bit curdled at some point (at least mine did) but it won't affect the flavour or consistency.

Bake in 180 degrees for about 20 minutes (a little less if you want your cake more gooey). The cake can remain a little wobbly in the middle when you take it out of the oven. Put in the fridge to set for at least 2 hours - the longer you leave the cake in the cold, the firmer it will be and easier to cut.

Decorate for example with whipped coconut cream (spiced with honey and vanilla) and fresh berries. Serve or eat straight from the fridge with the secret snack spoon.